AJ is a serial entrepreneur and passionate student of startups.
After a decade of spending countless hours and money building companies, most of which failed, he went back to basics and surrounded himself with entrepreneurs decades further ahead of him.
He ran a deeply connected community of 400 entrepreneurs in the UK and realised how little he knew about the art and science of company building.
At this intersection of relationships and company building is where AJ has found the key to success.
If we don't understand people, we don't understand business.
But people are hard to understand....
Which is why this show exists!
scale with soul is a deep dive intro how the best entrepreneurs alive build and manage the relationships that lead to startup success.
AJ is a serial entrepreneur and passionate student of startups.
After a decade of spending countless hours and money building companies, most of which failed, he went back to basics and surrounded himself with entrepreneurs decades further ahead of him.
He ran a deeply connected community of 400 entrepreneurs in the UK and realised how little he knew about the art and science of company building.
At this intersection of relationships and company building is where AJ has found the key to success.
If we don't understand people, we don't understand business.
But people are hard to understand....
Which is why this show exists!
scale with soul is a deep dive intro how the best entrepreneurs alive build and manage the relationships that lead to startup success.
Startups are meant to be rocket ships - some reach outer orbit… Others crash back down to earth in a ball of flames
Rob Bridgman built Snug from £1M to £31M revenue in just three years, only to watch it nearly collapse overnight when the market turned. This is the unfiltered story of what it really takes to survive as a founder when everything falls apart.
🧠 What You'll Learn:
▪️ How to build challenger (or “Pirate”) thinking into your culture from day one
▪️ The "Clear Is Kind" framework that transforms difficult conversations into breakthroughs
▪️ Why Rob's "Golden Hour" policy became their secret weapon for creativity and retention
▪️ The brutal reality of what happens when growth-stage funding disappears overnight
▪️ How feedback loops with customers can drive exponential product-market fit
▪️ How to scale from 12 to 70 people without losing your startup soul
📖 Chapters
0:00 - Intro
1:06 - From Childhood "Inventor" to Entrepreneur
3:42 - The Values That Built Snug's Culture
10:10 - How "Clear Is Kind" Revolutionised Team Performance
15:49 - Working With the Best: Hiring Top 5% Talent
17:17 - The Nonviolent Communication Framework
24:04 - Give Every Team Member Professional Coaching
26:21 - Making Culture Tangible: Weekly Pulse Surveys & NPS
39:46 - The ICE Framework: How to Prioritise 100+ Product Ideas
44:22 - Year One: Selling One Sofa to £1M Revenue
46:26 - The Three Pillars: Product Innovation, Customer Journey & Brand
52:25 - Year Two: £7M Revenue During COVID Chaos
54:32 - Year Three: £31M and 70 People - "It Was Absolute Chaos"
57:24 - Scaling Pains: From 12 to 70 People in One Year
59:29 - Fixing Our Management Structure Crisis
67:00 - The Fundraising Nightmare: From £70M Valuation to £900K Exit
69:23 - Selling to SCS: From Pirates to Navy
78:13 - What I'd Do Differently: Standing Your Ground From Day One
85:33 - The Fork in the Road: Rebuild Snug or Start Fresh?o
🍿 WATCH NEXT
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The Human Side Of Startup Leadership | Margot De Broglie
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